Much ado about little

Biden-Xi talks yield modest outcomes

Though the White House sought to play down the significance of the first face-to-face meeting between United States (US) President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in over a year, the outcome of four hours of talks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative conference was underwhelming. No joint statement followed the talks at a century-old mansion with sumptuous hospitality laid on. Two agreements represent the core substance of the talks. One concerns a resumption of military communications, which were suspended after then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last year but had become vital after near-misses between Chinese ships and American forces and the discovery of a Chinese spy balloon over US airspace. Under this agreement, senior US commanders, including those of the Pacific forces, will engage with their Chinese counterparts to establish best practices to avoid mid-sea collisions. Deeper cooperation will, however, require appointing a Chinese defence minister after the incumbent was dismissed in October. The other agreement concerned a deal to combat the flow of a key ingredient from China that goes into the drug Fentanyl, produced by Mexican drug cartels.

There was no discernible change, though none was expected, on the two nations’ approach to Taiwan beyond a tacit agreement to disagree on the One-China policy. US officials said off the record that Mr Xi assured Mr Biden that China had no plans to invade the island. There was, however, no suggestion that the US was able to advance its own foreign policy agenda of convincing China to rein in North Korean arms supply to Russia or to convince Iran to back down from its support to Hamas and Hezbollah. On the economic front, Mr Xi complained of US restrictions on advanced computer chips and how the US was strangling China’s industrial competitiveness. Mr Biden reiterated he would not provide China with technology that would be used for military purposes. It is also significant that the Biden administration has not removed tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act imposed by the Donald Trump administration on a range of Chinese imports, though a review is underway after complaints from US industry. In other words, deep differences on competition and security threats remain largely unresolved.

If there were clues to be found in improving relations, it was implicit in the tonality of the leaders’ statements suggesting that the competition between the established and the emerging superpower was now leavened by a degree of trust. Mr Xi reportedly told Mr Biden that “Planet Earth was big enough for two countries to succeed”. At a solo presser just hours after this carefully choreographed event, the latter described as “important progress” the fact that the two leaders could “pick up the phone and call one another and we’ll take the call”. How long these assurances would last is doubtful since Mr Biden also described Mr Xi as a dictator, an opinion he had openly expressed in June, though he hedged his statement by clarifying that China’s form of government was different from that of the US. Nevertheless, the comment evoked a sharp response from China’s foreign ministry, which described the statement as “extremely wrong and irresponsible political manipulation”. These little contretemps may reflect the distance the two major powers have to travel for a more constructive understanding.